The Kidnapping & Complex
by sexxicosmologist
Summary: Post TTP: Artemis suddenly develops a rare fairy mental disorder. As his friends race to cure him, Artemis is lost in the fog of his own mind unable to plot. What will happen when he wakes from the fog to find himself lost... Note: This was started before the AC was released but after a brief plot description was released...
1. Oblivious

"…and they lived happily ever after." Artemis shut the book and looked at Myles and Beckett; they were both staring at him oddly. He blinked, and then smiled, "What?"

"So… that's it?" Beckett said, rapping his arms around his knees and tucking then under his chin.

"The End." Artemis replied gaily, smiling again and turning the book over. He got up, balanced on one foot to put the book on a top shelf, and gave a little wave to his brothers before quitting the room. "Night!"

Myles looked over at Beckett and surveyed him a moment "There is somethin' wrong with Arty."

Beckett hugged his Knees closer to his chest and looked over at the shelf where Artemis had left the book. The fairy tale looked out of place among Artemis' normal selection of literature for his brothers.

I didn't know I'd miss his lec-turs." said Beckett. "Let's go an ask mum and dad wats the matter with 'im." Myles nodded and slipped off the bed. They both tip toed passed Artemis' door and then ran up the hall to Mr. and Mrs. Fowl's room.

"Hmmm?" was the reply to their light knocking. A bleary eyed Mrs. Fowl then opened the door. "Boys!" She said, amused, shaking her head. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"We wana know wats wrong with Arty." Myles pouted; Beckett had a similar look on his face.

Angeline Fowl's face, however, took on a confused smile. "What do you mean there's something wrong with Arty?" She said, bending down to face them.

"He's been acting really weird lately." said Beckett.

"Ya, you should have hear-ed him read to us this night and last." Myles added.

"He could hardly do it as well as us!"

"-and I never thought I'd miss his lec-turs."

"Mean ether."

"I-"

"Oh boys!" Mrs. Fowl was suddenly worried. She looked over at Artemis' room as she ushered the twins to bed, then rushed back to wake her husband.

"What?" He said sleepily as Angeline shook him. He came awake at registering the worry on her face. "What's the matter?"

"Myles and Beckett just came to the door saying somethin's wrong with Artemis." Mr. Fowl sat up at these words.

"Is he sick?" He asked.

"That's not what it sounded like." Angeline thought allowed.

"You mean you didn't go in his room?"

"No, should I?" Mrs. Fowl asked.

"Yes, you might as well wake him." Artemis Sr. slipped out of bed. "Or should I go?"

"No, I'll see what's wrong."

Knocking, Angeline Fowl opened her son's door. He looked around.

Artemis wasn't in bed yet, he was sitting in a chair with a book in his lap, drumming his fingers lightly on the chair's arm. Tap, Tap, Tap, Swipe, Tap, Tap, Tap, Swipe…

"Mother?" Artemis set the book down, getting up. "Is some-?"

"Are you all right Arty?" Angeline couldn't be certain in the lighting, but Artemis' eyes looked dilated. He had an air of nervousness about him as well.

Mr. and Mrs. Fowl had been on a business trip the last half-a-fortnight, and had gone to bed almost as soon as they had come through the door that evening, so they hadn't spoken to their eldest son that week other than a quick, 'Hello-Goodnight,' though he hadn't seemed this way earlier. Butler had been off too, so maybe Artemis was just tired from having had to take care of his brothers alone.

"Yes, w-why would you s-suggest otherwise?" Angeline was surprised at her son's stuttered reply. It didn't sound as though he was hiding something, Artemis could lie seamlessly, no it actually sounded as if he were having trouble speaking. He, himself, didn't seem to see it though, because he went on sounding confident, or at least, as confident as someone _can _sound wile stuttering their speech. Angeline then saw that was she had originally taken to be nervousness was actually a slight trembling, he didn't seem nervous at all, quite the contrary, he seemed at ease.

Assuring her son that she must have been mistaken, Angeline left the room, and walked back to her bed.

"Was anything the matter?" inquired Artemis Sr. who was waiting for her.

"I-" She took a quick breath, "There is something wrong with Artemis." Her husband frowned.

"_Is_ he sick?"

"No." She shook her head, "There's just something different, _wrong _about him, I can't place it." She laid her head on the pillow and looked up at Mr. Fowl. "He was – stuttering, and, there was something else wrong too but I can't place it. _He _doesn't seem to see anything unusual, he seemed oblivious."

"Oblivious? That's not a word often used to describe Artemis." Mr. Fowl inquired.

"No, no it isn't. It's the only word that fits at the moment though."

In fact _oblivious _was not a word that had _ever _been used to describe Artemis Fowl the Second. So why was it being used now?


	2. Artemis!

Artemis was bent over a book concentrating very hard, not on the text though, he had read that several times all ready. Where his eyes were rested was unimportant. He was thinking about what the book had said.

Tap, Tap, Tap, Swipe, Tap, Tap, Tap, Swipe… He drummed his fingers against the books binding, not realizing what he was doing, else he would have stopped. After a few minutes of this, he was jolted to reality by a lowed 'bing' from his laptop, which he'd left on, most unlike him.

He dropped down the article he had been reading a few hours earlier, and found that 'HollS' was messaging him.

HollS: whats the mud boy up to

AFowl: Nothing interesting.

HollS: rrrright whats with the mental disorder research on your laptop – not going insane are you ;)

AFowl: ! You know what's on my screen?!

HollS: foaly dose…

AFowl: Well, tell him from me; it's none of his business.

HollS: emotional…XD

Last IM sent at 8:03AM

HollS: arty?

Last IM sent at 8:04AM

HollS: Are you up to something Artemis? Seriously.

AFowl: No.

HollS: are you telling the truth?

AFowl: Yes.

AFowl: Now if you would pleaseajhef$4810efnbqj

IM sent at 8:07AM

HollS: ? Arty?

HollS: Hello!

Last IM sent at 8:09AM

HollS: is something wrong?

Last IM sent at 8:11AM

AFowl: Hello?

HollS: Artemis?

AFowl: No, this is Angeline. Who is this?

HollS: Holly Short, is this Artemis's Mother?

AFowl: Yes, I found him in his room and I heard a ping come from his computer.

HollS: Tell him it was rude to just leave like that.

AFowl: I found him on the floor.

HollS: What do you mean?

AFowl: I think he fainted, do you know what happened?

HollS: No, I'm sorry I don't. Is he all right?

AFowl: Oh, well thank you. I'll go now.

HollS: wait!

AFowl: Yes?

HollS: Tell me if you find out what happened; I'll call Foaly in the mean time.

AFowl: Who?

HollS: The centaur on the tella-com screen, he was being projected when the whole 'lemur thing' happened a few months ago…

AFowl: Are you the fairy with the hazel eye and Auburn hair?

HollS: Yes, I'm a friend of Artemis's

AFowl: Oh, I see. I'll make sure to contact you.

HollS: Thank You

Last IM sent at 8:23AM

Holly Short looked up from her computer screen; she couldn't believe what she had just read. Was this some crude joke of Artemis'?

No, she thought, he wouldn't do something like that, would he?


	3. Psychiatric

Hi Caballine," Holly said in to the phone, "Is Foaly in?"

"Holly! You never call for _me_ just my husband!" Caballine, Foaly's wife had answered the phone.

"I'm sorry Caballine, it's an emergency there's something wrong with Fowl."

"Oh, I see." replied Caballine. Holly waited a minute as the message was relayed.

"My one day off –" Foaly started.

"I don't care if you haven't had a day off since last Christmas Foaly! This is urgent!" Holly muttered in to the hand set.

"All right, all right, calm down. What is it?" Holly wasted no time before relaying the situation. She waited impatiently for a reply. Holly was managing to get herself more worked up by the second, envisioning all the trouble Artemis could potentially cause.

"Ok, he fainted. He's been home alone for a week, maybe his cooking is as unhealthy as it is unsavory." If Foaly had been able to see Holly's face, while speaking, he probably would have stopped mid sentence. As it was he continued, "Or maybe he's just sick, that can happen you know."

"You-Think-So-?" Holly drew out each syllable angrily. Foaly seemed to understand the nuance this time.

"Wowa there, someone's a bit over it."

"Just find out what the hell happened!"

"On it!" Foaly decided it best not to argue. Besides that, he was curios, what had caused Mud Boy over there enough of a shock to faint?

On the way to his office Foaly, the LEP's head technological adviser, stopped to get some coffee. If he had been in his office the centaur probably would have noticed the automatic warning on his computer come up explaining the details of a mud person plain that had just crashed only minutes ago. He did see it as he walked in a few minutes later.

It had been about three hours since he had been instructed by his friend Holly Short to find out why Artemis Fowl had fainted, God forbid, but that was completely wiped from his mind as he jumped in his seat and pulled out his key board, he had invented a virtual key board for LEPrecon use but he still liked the good old fashioned kind.

It had been a freak accident, the plain's motors had malfunctioned and stopped working, resulting in a dive into the murky depths below. It had been a hospital plane flying from Dublin to Glasgow. Foaly gave an involuntary jolt at the worlds 'hospital plane flying from Dublin to Glasgow' as he always did when reading anything about Dublin or anything near were Artemis lived. He decided, out out morbid curiosity to pull up the list of passengers.

M. Donnelly

K. Doyle

A. Fowl

J. O'Keeffe

F. Maher

S. Quinn

'_Fowl is a common Irish name isn't it? The A means nothing, it could be Anderson, or Arthur, or…?' _It took Foaly a few moments to recover himself and stop listing random 'A' names in his head. It then took an other few moments for him to realize that the page had refreshed itself with more information and that the names in the list were now links. He Clicked on 'A. Fowl'

Artemis Fowl The Second

Fowl had been admitted to the Dublin psychiatric institute after an unidentified incident in his home barely three hours before the crash, and was on board to be taken to a specialized care unit in Glasgow. Vital statistics show that he was not conscious at the time of the crash.


	4. Splash!

"Foaly!" Holly had just barged into Foaly's office and was navigation her way roughly through priceless technology. Foaly jumped and dropped down the update, he wasn't sure what to tell Holly – or how to tell her.

"Umm, Holly?" Foaly went over and grabbed Holly's arm. "Holly." This was a bit unlike Foaly, it caused her to stop and look at him; her foot still tangled in some lose wire.

"What is it Foaly?" Foaly looked very upset, he had always, despite his complaining and bickering, considered Artemis one of his greatest friends.

"I found out what happened." Foaly began.

"And?" Holly persisted.

"He's dead." Foaly hadn't meant for it to come out like that! He had meant to explain a little of what had happened and then… Well, he hadn't meant to just blurt out 'He's dead.' to Holly.

Holly's eyes had begun to water involuntarily. She wondered why, was it because of something Foaly had just told her? He had just said something hadn't he? What was it? It must have been important…

"Wh-What?" She stammered.

"Uhh, he – I – I mean –" Foaly gave a defeated jester toward the computer. Holly didn't seem to see though, because she didn't respond. Foaly took it upon himself to take Holly by the shoulders and steer her to the screen. He pushed her into the seat and pulled up the announcement.

Holly's eyes flashed down the screen then she grabbed the mouse and clicked the list of passengers, again reading the page. Her eyes stopped at 'A. Fowl.'

"But, it might not-" She began, but Foaly clicked on the name . Holly's vision blurred,

"I'm going to Dublin, get me a hotshot."

"But Holly!"

"NOW!"

~ 100 Kilometers East of the Dublin Coast ~

Artemis felt like he'd just had his head smashed into a brick wall. The rest of him didn't feel to good ether. He groaned, water kept splashing his face, making him choke and his eyes sting.

He rolled over and –

Splash!


	5. Ocean

Artemis started thrashing in the water, grabbing desperately at whatever had been supporting him. His eyes flashed open and the sun blinded him, but he managed to grab the chunk of mangled plastic he had rolled off of.

Having managed to drag himself onto this crude raft, he collapsed, shivering. Coughing and spluttering he thought to himself,

'Analyze the situation, Artemis! Analyze the situation... Where am I?'

Artemis decided that that would be a good place to start. Opening his eyes he looked around, but finding that the rolling of the waves made him feel sick, quickly shut them.

"O-cean?" He spluttered. Laying there for a few more moments he began to think,

'How did I get here?' He racked his brains as well as he could in his present state. Not only could he not remember anything, his mind felt fuzzy. Artemis was aware enough to realize that his thought process wasn't working correctly, but beyond that, he couldn't comprehend anything. Soon he began to drift off.

A loud buzz coming from Artemis' side woke him. Lifting his arm slightly, it took him a minute to realize that the ring around his fourth finger was the thing buzzing. This puzzled him a bit; he rested his arm across his chest, not having the energy to put it back at his side. Closing his eyes the buzz began to fade.

"FOWL!" Artemis jolted, nearly dislodging himself of the raft for a second time. "Artemis, this is Foaly! Can you hear me?" Artemis didn't understand what was happening, but decided he might try to say something.

"Errrrmp" was all he could muster.

"By the gods! Holly! He's alive!"

~10 Kilometers from the Irish Sea (Fowl Manner)~

"I've got his location Holly!" Foaly shouted, ecstatic with success.

"I'm as good as gone." She said, taking off from the balcony.

Butler stood in the doorway to Artemis' study watching Foaly pull up maps, charts, and vital statistics on his computer, which was now set up on Artemis's desk.

Artemis's parents and two brothers were at a relative's house, not having wanted to come home and face what had happened just yet.

"Anything new?" Butler asked.

"Er, well… He's awake." Foaly replied; Butler wasn't satisfied.

"He's awake." He repeated, expecting more of an explanation from the centaur.

"Yes." A moment went by in silence, "No." Butler just raised an eyebrow. "He must have passed out."

Right. When was someone going to tell Butler what was going on? He hadn't even known Artemis had been ill, let alone taken to the hospital.

"Foaly, I would appreciate it if someone would brief me on current events." The centaur didn't even turn his head. "I have no idea what's going on." He persisted.

"Nether do I." Foaly typed furiously for a moment, "All I know is that Fowl passed out on the floor while speaking to Holly, was taken to the psyche unit, and crashed in a plain…" There was a moment's pause, "and lived."

"Did you say 'Psyche unit' Foaly?"

"Yes, I don't know why he was taken there – so don't ask me."

The Psyche unit? His parents took him to the psych unit? Why? Butler was perplexed, should he call them? They still thought Artemis's was dead so he wouldn't only be calling with questions.

"Mrs. Fowl?" Butler said into the mouth piece of the phone he was holding.

"Butler? Is that you?" Angeline Fowl replied at the other end.

"Yes Mam' I – have something important to tell you."

"Um," Mrs. Fowl sounded almost tearful through the phone. "We know."

"No, he's alive." There was an awkward silence, then,

"Wh- What? Is he, with you?"

"No. Foaly pinpointed his location using some sort of fairy communicator he wears as a ring. Apparently it can also read vital statistics." Butler informed her. There was a small gasp from Angeline,

"I – I, can I talk to this Foaly person?" Angeline asked.

"Of course, one moment." Butler replied, a bit surprised.

"Foaly, it's Mrs. Fowl, she wants to talk to you." Foaly looked up surprised.

"Sure thing." The phone was handed over. "Hello?" He said into the mouth piece. "Uh, no. Holly's gone out to find him. Don't worry she's the best there is, if there's any chance of finding him she'll be the one. She'd be able to do if there weren't any chance just to spite fate. That's an elf you don't mess with." Butler heard Angeline reply, but couldn't make out the words. "Don't worry Mrs. Fowl, we'll bring your son back."

~Irish Sea 20 minutes Later~

Holly had just spotted what must be a bit of debris left by the plane. She dived, intending to get a closer look.

She gasped, there was a boy laying on a piece of plastic from the side of the plane.


	6. Complex

It wasn't Artemis.

It couldn't be Artemis, the boy was covered in scrapes, scratched raw, and were ever he wasn't his skin was tan. Not extremely so, but enough as not to be mistaken for Artemis whose pail skin was one of the more prominent features anyone would describe. He had a bit of a dreamy delirious look on his face and there were rings under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in days.

Then again… he did look a bit like Artemis, his hair was black, and he was the right size. Holly hovered above him looking down. He was unconscious, or at least that's what Holly thought until he opened his eyes.

One blue eye and one hazel eye.

"By the gods." Holly gasped. "Foaly?" She whispered into her helmet. "I found him."

Foaly turned in his chair and gave Butler a grin. 'Found him' he mouthed, not trusting himself to speak.

"Ahem." Foaly coughed, waiting for a response from Holly.

"Umm… I'm on my way there?" The sentence had the inflection of a question when it came from Holly's lips. Artemis' eyes were shut now and his lips were moving. Holly leaned it to see if she could pick up what he was saying.

"Complex…" He kept whispering.

Holly shook her head in disbelief. Had she ever expected to see Artemis gibbering nonsense? No, not really, but then again there was a first for everything.

~Three hours Latter – Fowl Manor~

"Do you have any idea what's wrong with him?" The speaker was Holly, she was bent over Foaly's shoulder as he read though file after file on the laptop.

"You said he kept whispering 'Complex' right?" Holly nodded to Foaly's question. "Well, I have a suspicion that that might not just be gibberish, he might know what's wrong with himself even if we don't." Again the nodding, Holly wasn't in a talkative mood.

Artemis was now safely at Fowl Manor. He was laying in his bed, completely unresponsive to anyone or anything. He just kept whispering stings of gibberish, no longer limiting himself to just 'Complex.'

If you would have asked anyone who new Artemis Fowl, the likelihood of a similar scenario to the present happening, a week ago, they probably would have told you 'Hell 'ed freeze over first.' As it was currently, Hell must be having one hell of a blizzard. It seemed that even the great Artemis Fowl wasn't immune to diseases and disorders of the mind. Actually considering his superior intelligence, having dealt with the loss of both parents, and extreme stress and mental pressure at an early age, it's a wonder he hadn't cracked sooner.

Now all his friends had to do was find out what was wrong with him exactly. Foaly insisted they had to have something a bit more specific than, 'Completely Insane.' Holly just wanted something done; her magic hadn't worked at all, not even on Artemis' physical injuries. So, Foaly sat sifting though terabytes of data, Holly was randomly looking though books on the shelf, and Butler waited by standing in the doorway as before, watching.

Holly had just spotted a book on the floor by Artemis' desk. It was face down and open, not neatly like it had been set that way to save a page, but haphazardly as if it had been dropped on the floor. The pages were bent. Holly carefully picked up the book, making sure not to dislodge the bookmark. Flipping it open to the page she saw an article titled "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" the next page was marked by a dog ear and was titled "Multiple Personality Disorder."

"Hey Foaly, look at this." Holly handed the book to the centaur, pointing out the pages.

"I was right then. Artemis dose know there's something wrong with him. He might even know what." Foaly sighed. "A pity he couldn't just tell us."


	7. Stark Raving Mad

Thoughts swirling around in "Circles." How much "Time." had "Passed?" "Why?" had he been in the "Ocean?" Wasn't there a "Crash?" Where was "Somebody?" Who had "Found." him? He hurt. Was "Anybody." There? This didn't make any "Sense."

Artemis was still mumbling gibberish. Holly was passed worried now, her nerves were on edge. Artemis Fowl The Second did not just start mumbling to himself and going to Psyche Hospitals. This was not normal; being in mortal danger, stealing, running from angry trolls, getting hurt, magic, time travel, that, that was normal. This? NOT normal, not even close.

Artemis moaned and tried to sit up, startling Holly. His eyes remained shut as he collapsed back on the pillow. "Why was I, ocean." Holly recognized that Artemis was actually trying to ask a coherent question this time, and went over to him.

"Artemis? Artemis can you hear me?" In response Artemis opened one eye, and looked around. It was his blue eye.

"Not ocean… anymore." He winced, closing his eye.

Holly spoke slowly and articulated clearly. "Artemis, you are not in the ocean anymore. You are at home, in your room." She waited for Artemis to speak. There was no response. "Is there something wrong with you?"

"You haven't realized that yet?" Artemis said, opening his blue eye again.

Holly jumped; Artemis had been barley able to form a sentence moments ago. Now he had just given a perfectly articulated scathing remark.

"What!?" Holly said angrily. Artemis was giving her a cold state through both his eyes now. "So that's it? You normal now? Is this some kind of joke?" She was about ready to slap that sinister stare right off his face. She had just saved his life.

"In a moment, you won't be able to understand a word I say." Holly raised an eyebrow. This may very well be Artemis's usually cold gaze and icy tone, but she had just started to realize that there was still something amiss. She decided to play along and adopted what she thought to be an equally frosty voice.

"Is that so? Do tell." Artemis, who had had a slight frown moments ago, adopted a maniacal grin.

"For what reason?" He said. It was Holly's turn to frown.

"If there's something wrong with you, I'd like to help fix it." Her voice was softer now, she meant what she said.

"Is that so?" He mimicked. "You don't sound very pleased with me." His maniacal grin widened. It took every ounce of self control Holly had not to slap it off his face. All the same she allowed a scathing glare to flash across her face, seeing this, Artemis laughed with pleasure. "I'd tell you what's wrong, but I haven't a clue!" Artemis was laughing in earnest now. Holly backed away.

"He's gone mad!" Artemis was wincing; it had obviously hurt him to laugh. He slowly quieted, until his breathing was even and his eyes were closed. Holly took a chance and stepped closer, realizing as she did so that Artemis was asleep. She shook herself, unnerved.

Foaly, had moved from Artemis' room into the main sitting room with Butler, leaving Holly to watch over Artemis while he slept. He gave Holly a grimace as she walked in.

"Did you-" She began.

"I heard." Foaly had listened in through Holly's helmet, which had been lying on Artemis' bed side table.

Holly's gaze suddenly hardened. "So do you have enough information to make a prognosis?" Foaly fingered his collar.

"I'm thinking that maybe sticking with 'stark raving mad' isn't such a bad idea." Holly's face reddened.

"Well, I'm not going back in there." With that she plopped herself down on the couch, her arms folded and an adamant expression on her face.

Foaly was under the opinion that someone should sit with Artemis, but Holly wasn't going to do it and he didn't really want to – not after that episode. He was tempted to ask Butler, but he was in the kitchen making tea, and Foaly really didn't want to ask him, not after seeing the look on his face while they listened in on the conversation from Holly's helmet.

Suddenly, in staggered a shell shocked looking Artemis. Seeing the look on his friends faces he reddened.

"I – That wasn't -" He slid a few inches down the wall he was leaning against, breathing heavily. "Me." He gasped. Sliding down to the floor, he fainted.

"We know why he was on his way to a psyche hospital." Responded Butler tonelessly. He had just walked in.


	8. Incurable

Holly rounded on Foaly. "Aren't you supposed to be a genius too!" She looked like she was about to explode. "What the hell is wrong with him!"

Foaly was fingering his collar again. "I think I do know what's wrong now." His eyes flickered to the slumped form on the floor. "Have you ever heard of 'Atlantis Complex' before?" Holly's reaction wasn't immediate. It took a few moments for her face to grow pale and her expression to fall.

"No!"

"Oh, well-" Foaly began. He said it more to break the tension than because he thought Holly didn't know what he was talking about; he _had _seen her reaction after all.

"I _know_ what it is." She looked down at Artemis. "It's incurable." Foaly cocked his head.

"I don't. What is it Foaly?" Said Butler

"It's a psychological disorder usually caused by high bouts of stress at an early age, trauma, &ct. It causes multiple personalities, memory loss, inability to think clearly, separation from reality, obsessive compulsive tendencies, delusions, and hallucinations." Butler wished he hadn't asked. "Uncontrollable and incurable."

"There must be something!" Holly exclaimed.

"Well, actually-" He seemed a bit tense. "I was studying psychological disorders a few years back and I discovered that – uhh – certain substances _temporarily _cure the victim of symptoms." He paused to assess his listeners reactions, then, assuming it was safe to continue, continued. "Though, like I said, it's only temporary. You can use it more than once, but it isn't a permanent treatment because the victim eventually develops immunity."

"Why wasn't it studied further?" Asked Holly, interested, in spite of herself. Fingering his collar was becoming a bad habit for Foaly.

"Some of the test cases had – bad reactions." Holly raised her eyebrows. "Very bad reactions."

"Like?" Holly wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"Paralyses, loss of fine motor skills, worsening of the original condition-" Holly cut him off."

"I get the picture." She replied a little queasy.

"There was one test case though, he was completely cured, he never had another symptom." Foaly said proudly.

"That's interesting. So you'd like me to be your next test case?" All eyes swiveled toward Artemis, who was now sitting up and rubbing his head. It ached with a fiery passion.

Artemis was embarrassed, he couldn't think strait, and now he _knew_ that there was something wrong with his mental being. For the life of him he couldn't figure out what was wrong. At least he seemed to have some semblance of control over himself – at the moment.

"I-I think I'm relatively normal at the moment. I'm not really thinking to clearly, but I'm not acting crazy." Bringing his knees to his chest, he put his fingers to his temples. "Who knows how long that will be the case though…" Trailing off he winced, pain sliced through his chest and head. "I'm hurt." He stated the obvious, not really caring about his friend's reactions. He had already been sorely humiliated, now he just wanted the fog in his mind and the pain in his chest to- "Go away."

"What?" Holly asked, surprised.

"Not you." Artemis groaned shaking his head slightly. "I didn't mean too," He took in a breath, "say that." Artemis took in a few more deep breaths. After a moment Holly bent down to look at him.

"He's asleep! Again!" She almost shouted in her surprise, causing Artemis' sleeping form to stiffen momentarily. She looked up questioningly at Foaly.

"That's common. Most people with Atlantis Complex can not stand it, they can feel that what they're saying or doing is inappropriate or embarrassing so unable to stop themselves directly they simply chose to sleep or faint rather than be subject to reality." Explained Foaly.

"That doesn't sound like Artemis, but I'll take your word for it." Holly replied.

"I don't know." Butler had finally spoken, rubbing his chin. "It seems to me that Artemis would much rather be unconscious than to face the fact that he couldn't think strait."

"Maybe you're right." Sighed Holly.

Foaly looked at the clock on the wall making a quick conversion. "Holly we really need to be going back to Haven City, Kelp will be wondering where we are." Holly sighed.

"He didn't exactly take kindly to us leaping off to help Artemis did he?" Foaly shook his head, agreeing with Holly's statement. "One more thing though, isn't Atlantis Complex a fairy disorder? I didn't know Mud Men could get it."

"Looks like that magic Artemis stole is really coming back to bite him in the butt." They all nodded their agreement to Foaly's statement.


	9. Viscous

"So what exactly does this cure of yours involve?" asked Holly. She wanted to know but then again, maybe she didn't. It had been morbid curiosity that drove her to ask Foaly for the details in the first place.

Foaly had just walked back into the OPPs both after going to his labs storage facility to get, well, Holly wasn't sure what he went to get exactly. It had something to do with this miracle - _temporary_ - cure he'd developed.

"This," Foaly said, holding up a glass vile he'd extracted from the silver case he'd brought into the OPPs booth and set on the table. "is the vaccine that I," He pulled out a hypodermic needle, a _big_ hypodermic needle. "Intend to administer to Artemis."

"Ouch." Holly murmured not wanting to admit that she was very thankful that it was Artemis and not her about to get poked with that thing. Foaly looked up and gave a half hearted smile.

"Well, it's quite viscous you see." He said shaking the liquid as if to make a point. Holly nodded, not understanding.

Angeline was staring openly at Foaly as he stood at the Fowls kitchen table, Holly next to him.

"So you see," He was saying, "because of the chance of side effects, we need your consent in order to give him the temporary cure." Holly elbowed him. "Okay, _chance _of temporary cure, there is always the possibility that it won't work." There was a pause "A very small chance."

"Foaly! Just because your ego rivals that of Fowl's does _not_ mean I'm going to let it down play the situation. Now, ether give them the facts in an unadulterated way or _I_ will. And let me tell you, _my _version will be far from unadulterated, if you get my drift." This outburst was uttered calmly in Gnomish, much to the bewilderment of Mrs. Fowl.

Foaly started pulling on his caller nervously; a big contrast to his would be pious demeanor from before Holly's intervention. He coughed continuing,

"Well maybe I should just let you read the report." He looked over at Holly who nodded in acceptance.

"Sounds good to me." She said and then paused. "Wait, Foaly, a report?"

"Yes of course a report. What? You thought I wouldn't record the results."

"No, you never let me read it." She answered crossly, but allowed the files to passed to and read by Angeline before snatching them up for herself.

"Oh Foaly, I can't believe I _ever _suggested that you had down played the results." Holly remarked after shuffling through the papers. Actually most of what she saw was making her mildly disturbed.

_Where do they get test subjects for this stuff?_


	10. Confounded

Artemis woke to a sharp pain in his arm – actually, he hurt all over – that was just were the pain was the worst. He groaned as his eyes flew open, fluttering a few times until his eyes adjusted. He was alone in his room and for some reason he had a blurry, vague, spot in his memory. He seemed to recall white blurs? Holly? A plain? and –

_The Ocean? What? - Oh no. It must be getting worse..._

Artemis sat up shaking his head to clear it. He had been suffering from some sort of physiological episode – he knew it. Just what? The last thing he could clearly remember was reading up about it in his room after putting his brothers to bed, he hadn't been feeling –no– _thinking_ right for a few days. Now what was this, he was losing his memory too?

"No! No! No!"He shouted in frustration shaking his head violently. Suddenly, there were loud footsteps coming towards his door. A look of surprise came over Artemis' face. Wasn't he, besides his brothers, home alone? No wait his parents had come home, right? Yes that was it. He saw the door open. He'd just tell his father he had had a nightmare, for that was who he presumed it was.

"Sorry f- Butler?"Artemis couldn't hide the quizzical look that crossed his face. Inside he was boiling with frustration. A head poked out from behind his bodyguard's legs. "Holly?"

_What! _He was screaming in his head.

Holly opened her mouth a few times as if trying to say something then gave up too stare at him with mistrust.

"What's going on? Is something abnormal happening? I had not realized that ether of you had entered the house."It crossed Artemis' mind at the look of shock and outrage on Holly's face, that that may have not been the best thing for him to have said. After all Artemis wasn't sure how much memory loss he had suffered, maybe they had been here for a while.

Then it occurred to Artemis that sun was shining through the window and he was in bed. Not only that but he was fully clothed and sitting atop his blankets.

A wave of uncharacteristic exhaustion and fatigue swept through Artemis a moment. His eyes slipped half way shut and his head tilted forward slightly before he quickly snapped it up blinking.

"I'm sorry; I seem to have had a short laps in memory. Have you been here long?" Artemis did not want to openly ask them how long they'd been there, but he had no other choice – He had no idea what was going on.

"A short laps in mem-" Holly managed to splutter, before getting cut off by Butler.

"Artemis, you don't remember anything?" He looked at Artemis quite curiously; actually he looked as if he wasn't sure to be worried or relived. Artemis was beyond the stage of acting; his normally cool emotionless mask went out the window. His head ached, his arm hurt, his chest hurt, and he felt a dull fuzz stopping him from dissecting the situation logically and he was confused. At this point even _he_ would admit it.

"What?" He gasped. "I-I don't understand. What is going on?" Holly's expression changed immediately at the confused look on her friends normally carefully guarded features. Tears weld up in her eyes as she dashed around Butler and enveloped Artemis in a tight hug that knocked his breath out. If Artemis had been able to, he would have squeaked in shock and pain. As it was, only the utter display of these feeling written so uncharacteristically on his face saved him. Butler took pity and tapped Holly on the shoulder. As soon as she let go Artemis closed his eyes and collapsed back. Confounded as Artemis undoubtedly was, he could not make sense of any of this.

"What's going on?" He moaned.

"Artemis! Are you ok? Are you sure you don't remember anything?"Her questions were coming too quick for Artemis. She turned to Butler. "If this doesn't work what'll we do? Is this normal, we need to ask Foaly if he's acting normal."

_Ask Foaly if I'm acting normal?_ Artemis thought with a start.

"Someone please tell me what's happening?"Artemis begged - to no avail I might add because it was at that moment that he blacked out.

Again Artemis awoke, this time to find Foaly leaning over him. He jumped back, startled, hitting his head on the bed post in the process.

"Ow!" He exclaimed, glaring at Foaly. "What in god's name is going on here?" He felt better now – just enough to demand an explanation.

"What's that last thing you remember?" Asked Foaly unperturbed. Artemis' glare increased.

"Certainly not _you_ being here." He remarked scathingly.

"Just answer the question. Please."

"Holly." He said.

"What?" Holly happened to also be in the room.

"That's the last thing I remember. You and Butler."

"Yes you would remember that." Foaly said, thinking. Artemis was still burning with frustration.

"Nobody has expla-" He began, only to get cut off.

"And before that?"Foaly continued his interrogation.

"What?" Said Artemis.

"Before Holly and Butler found you awake, what happened before that?"

"I assume I was asleep."His voice was guarded.

"For Frond's sake, at least we know he's being his usual righteous self." Holly said crossing here arms. Indeed, righteous indignation would be a good way to describe the look on Artemis' face at that point. "When you were awake Artemis."

"I put my brothers to bed last night." That did it, the rooms reaction was all Artemis need to know that he had ether said something very odd, or something they did not want to hear. "All right!" He clipped. "What is going on? Am I to sit here in utter ignorance? Or are you going to tell me why I have just woken up in a hose I thought I had to myself to find _you_ interrogating me in my own bedroom?" To Artemis further bewilderment Foaly exclaimed,

"It worked! The MudBoy's not crazy anymore!"


	11. A week?

"Ex- cuse me?" The taken aback Artemis asked Foaly. It was quite humiliating, this situation. He was propped up in bed with a centaur interrogating him and he had no idea what was going on. Utter ignorance. That and he had just been accused of being... crazy? Well, not _being_ crazy, but not being crazy _anymore _– which would lead you to suspect that he _had_ been crazy at one time or another.

"Ah, yes. So, you don't remember anything since you put you brothers to bed." Foaly said.

"Last night you mean?" Holly and Foaly shared a look.

"Yes, last night." Something about the way Foaly said that made Artemis nervous, though it took him a few moments to register that, it not being a well exercised feeling for him.

"No, I assume I was asleep." He'd had to say something. Everybody was silent, Foaly, a thoughtful look on his face. "Is that a good thing? Or a bad thing?"

"I'm not sure." At least Foaly was being frank with him now. "I'll tell you this; you didn't put your brothers to sleep last night."

…

"A week?" said Artemis. "I've been… incapacitated for a week?"

"6 days, 14 hours, 27 minutes, and 38... No... 39 seconds." Corrected Foaly. Even Artemis had had to roll his eyes at that one.

"That does not console me, centaur." The small group was seated in Artemis' study; they had just finished explaining what had happened to him.

"Not my problem, if it weren't for me you'd be in LaLa Land right now, and I wouldn't find _that_ very consoling." Artemis' replying glare could have melted ice.

"LaLa Land? How far out was I, exactly?" Watching Artemis now, you would hardly believe he had just suffered from a severe psychological attack. He was his usual erect self, en route to being briskly cold.

"Fwwwwew-" Foaly lamented with a wave of his hand, " waaay out of it. Would 'av been comical if _these two_ hadn't been so worried." Artemis new Foaly was just ribbing him but that didn't stop a tight frown from stretching his lips.

"How long?" He asked, his tone far from light.

"Pardan?"

"You said the cure was temporary, how long until it wears off?"

"Well, it depends." Foaly told him.

"On what." Artemis pried.

"Species, dosage, severity of condition, reaction to treatment, &ct." Artemis frown tightened.

"Don't tell me you haven't theorized an estimation, Foaly."

"All right Fowl, I'll give you a good round week. After that we'll wait three days before administering it again."

"Right, a week to cure myself." Artemis sounded weary. No one spoke for a moment.

"You'll do it Artemis, you always do." The elf had laid a hand on the boys shoulder, a gesture of comfort. A thin smile she received for her efforts.

"I know, I always do."

…

That evening was a quiet one, the fairies left and Artemis had dinner with his family. It wasn't until later when he was alone that he began formulating a plan of action…

One: Diagnose himself. [Check]

Two: Act upon diagnosis and gather research. [In the process of completion]

Three: Find a cure. [Yet to happen]

Five: Share with Foaly [Happening one step at a time since he needed the centaurs help, albeit not admitting it to anyone]

It being redundant to say, his mother was far from reassured, but could obviously come up with no better plans herself. This and the fact that just over a day ago she presumed her son to be dead for the second time in as many months, did not make for a joyful atmosphere at Fowl Manor, in fact it was quite somber.

…

~Three Days Later, 11:30 PM : Fowl Manor, Artemis's Bed Room~

Artemis collapsed on his bed not bothering to do more to his attire than kick off his shoes and rip off his tie. It had been three days since Foaly had given him a week to endure sanity. Artemis had only managed to do three things in this amount of time:

1) Memorize all the information Foaly had on his condition.

2) Discover that the unpleasant side effects of Foaly's temporary 'cure' included; loss of memory, loss of fine motor skills, and sudden unpredictable fainting. It was indeed amazing that he was able to memorize mass amounts of information accordingly, but let us not forget that Artemis was determined. The loss of his dexterity didn't put him in high spirits ether.

3) Stay awake for a full 52 hours strait.

These things were not considered, by Artemis, to be great accomplishments. Particularly number three, of which he was now sorely regretting. He gave an inaudible moan as he hit the bed sheets, this he thought, was a living nightmare. Little did he know that it really had yet to begin.


	12. Opal, you've gone too far

These things were not considered, by Artemis, to be great accomplishments. Particularly number three, of which he was now sorely regretting. He gave an inaudible moan as he hit the bed sheets, this he thought, was a living nightmare. Little did he know that it really had yet to begin.

…

~A Few Minutes Later~

"Damn that stupid MudWhelp!" She growled, her eyes narrowed through Artemis Fowl's bedroom window. She sighed, "At least he's finally asleep." Blowing the bangs from her face she let a smile grace her face. "He won't be up for a while, poor little boy."

…

Butler had gone to bed an hour and a half ago, tired from Artemis' constant theorems and research. He, however, had had a normal amount of sleep the past three days, unaware of Artemis' marathon of wakefulness. Had he been awake, he still wouldn't have been able to hear the scrape of an opening window, or the whoosh of a sliding curtain coming from Artemis' room across and down the hall. Artemis the First's room. He did here the quickly silenced yell that followed it though.

…

~A Few Moments Before~

"Hmm, what to do what to do?" She thought aloud, standing next to the now unresponsive form of Artemis Fowl The Second. "You do pose a challenge!" Sung Opal, her sarcasm dripping.

After waiting a few moments, and just before she was going to start getting annoyed – ah, her cue! A stifled yell came from the room down and across the hall. Just as she was dragging her captive out the window into the rather frigged night, she heard the stomping footsteps rushing to the _other_ room - she only had a few minutes.

…

~Again - A Few Moments Before~

Jumping out of bed, fully alert Butler made note of a thump/crash from the next room over - obviously Juliet had heard the noise too. His suspicions were confirmed as she bust out of her room at the same moment as he burst out of his, both racing for their employer's bedroom door. The bed sheets had been strewn across the floor and Artemis the First was nowhere to be found.

"Mister and Misses Fowl -" Juliet began, facing her brother. Just then a frumpled looking Mrs. Fowl ran into the room. Surveying the sight she put a hand to her mouth.

"Oh god. Not Timmy too." She then walked over and put her hand on the bed stroking the tossed blankets, her eyes filling with tears.

"Where were you?" asked Butler.

"The kitchen." she whispered. He nodded then turned to leave the room, stopping as though stunned at the door. He turned around slowly.

"Was Artemis with you?" He directed the question at Angeline, but at her stunned silence and a shared look with Juliet, he bolted out the door. Juliet fallowed in quick succession.

Artemis's room was empty; except here there was no sign of a struggle here. The window was hanging open though.

"Not good." Juliet said.

…

~Stolen LEP Stealth ship about 2.3475628765 miles from Fowl Manor~

"Oh! You actually got him! That's a bonus!" Opal One said to her younger pixie counterpart, rubbing her hands together. For you see, they hadn't really been trying to kidnap there arch nemesis' father - that was just a distraction.

"Yes. That great oaf was taking so long to get down the hall and I thought, 'Why not?' He could come in handy." A maniacal grin spread over Opal Two's face as she tightened the rope around Mr. Fowl's wrist with a flourish of her tiny hand.

"Yes, I agree entirely." said Opal One Ignoring the pained expression on the gagged face of Mr. Fowl she continued, "I wonder, did little Arty ever tell you about us? Mr. Fowl?" The startled look on his face answered her question.

"Oh guess not! Aw well, betters the revenge that the Fowl kid is never going to thwart us again." Opal Two answered her older self's question.

"Genius!" Opal One scoffed, "more like arrogant savant! To think himself a match for me." She shook her head in mock disgust. "He should have died in that damned Troll attack at the 11 wonders exhibit! It was a perfect set up! His memory erased, Trolls, cameras, irony, a raging river - witch, if I might add, he did almost drown in."

"Yes sounds wonderful, but remember, it didn't work." commented Opal Two. Opal one gave herself a scathing glare.

"Just throw him in with the little one." She said. Opal Two gave a small smirk and drug there captive to the prisoners cell at the back of the ship.

The prisoners cell was fit for four fairies; it was a bit cramped for two humans. Mr. Fowl found himself roughly chucked into this area alongside his similarly bound and unconscious son. The fact that his son was unconscious did little to ease his worry of the situation.

Opal Two untied the gag from around his mouth.

"What did you do to my son?" He spat. Opal shrugged in reply.

"No more than he deserves." She smiled. "Seekersleeper, though it's an older rather unstable model. Then again, I'm not too concerned about how much damage it will do to his system, than again, neither was the LEP back then." Laughing she exited, locking the hatch.

Artemis I didn't know what a 'seekersleeper' was but disusing from the names 'seek' and 'sleep' he had a vague idea of its function. As for what that strange creature had said about 'No more than what he deserved.' it seemed that this was payback to his son for something he had done. He hung his head, what had Artemis been doing behind his back all these years?

Looking over he saw his son stir and open his eyes. They made eye contact and then Artemis II's eye flicked taking in the situation.

"Opal, you've gone too far." was all he said before his eyes glazed over and he slumped again.


	13. Quite the romantic hero

"Oooooh! This is simply marvelous! Simply, simply! I cannot deduce how you managed to be so quick as to get the brats father out of the house before the giant MudMan came bursting in!" Opal One giggled - looking for all the world like an innocent school girl. She, however, was far from innocent.

It just so happened that at the precise moment of Opal One's exclamation of 'Oooooh!' Opal Two had lent back on the control board and unknowingly flipped a switch. The switch was the 'on/off' to the speakers in the cell the Fowl's currently inhabited. Consequently, the entirety of their conversation could be heard by the conscious of their captives.

"I am marvelous, aren't I?"

"Truly. Simply. Wonderful."

"Now tell me, what has happened with this boy in the future? I have already suffered the past injustice but I never suspected he would live to reek more!" Opal Two looked at herself a little bemused. Opal One's smirk turned sour.

"Well..." and here Opal continued on to explain all about the goblin rebellion. "...and apparently, do you know? Fowl was just helping the LEP take me and the Goblin Generals down because he wanted there help!"

"What ever would _Master_ Fowl want help for? It's hard to imagine him less than cocky or without an infuriating smirk." said Opal Two, enthralled; Artemis I was equally enthralled.

"Ha! This, my dear self is where the irony comes in - but I won't yet tell you his price for defeating me, I'll go back a year. This is just what I heard so the details may be skewed but..." and she proceeded to tell what she knew of Holly Shorts Kidnapping and the Fowl sedge. "...so after having escaped a time stop, evaded a biobomb and earned a **METRIC TON OF PURE GOLD!** He gives half of it back to the LEP. _HALF_! And do you know what he had the elf do for him in return?"

"What?" gasped Opal and Artemis I at the same time.

"Heal his mother from depression induced insanity! Here we have what we thought was a heartless villain whose only goal in life is money and power but the half the stolen gold was used to cure his mother and the other half - which brings me back to my defeat at the Goblin Uprising and his price for helping defeat me - the other half was used to fund search parties in the arctic to find his missing father! He didn't use any of the gold for himself; it took me, a maniacal villain to see through his scathing greedy demeanor. The LEP and even Short and Root, they all thought him a demented bastard but not me! I saw how his plans were in the end, truly selfless."

"But what did he have the LEP do for him to get him to help defeat us!"

"My dear self, you haven't guessed what he had them do?"

"No." again Opal Two and Artemis I were speaking in unison.

"He had them help him rescue his father from the Russian Mafia! He trekked across arctic tundra, escaped the Goblins I sent to kill him and came up with an almost suicidal plan to save his father! He knew the Mafia would try to kill him and his father as soon as he handed over the ransomed money, (which was fake) so he drained about a pint of blood from his own arm, stuck it in one of Foaly's hydro what's its - the paint ball type things - and shot his father with it. **SHOT** him with it! The blood spurted everywhere making the Mafia goons think the man had really been shot and that the kid had _murdered_ his own father!"

"I have to admit, your turning him into quite the romantic hero." said Opal Two.

"I am aren't I? Well, that's to be his downfall. Maybe if he WAS the treacherous little piece of scum the LEP had first made him out to be - he would have done better. As is, he has too many people he cares about to lose, I on the other hand, care only for myself and have nothing to lose. I am much better off."

"So that is what he did to us." said Opal Two.

"NO! He evaded me once more! Twice, if you count the going back in time as after these things happened. I had a beautiful plan, not to mention he was mind wiped at the time..." Again Opal One continued her fantastic story of the events in 'The Opal Deception' and how he really wasn't a true villainous criminal because he had selflessly helped his friends. Then it was Opal Two's turn to explain what had happened in 'The Time Paradox.'

All the while Artemis I was listening to the heroic accounts of all his son's deeds and the injustices he had caused these two people - who he soon realized were really the same person.

Now you're probably wondering where Artemis' mental disorder comes into Opal's plan; it doesn't. At this point in time neither Opal nor Artemis's father know there is anything wrong with him - least of all in the brain department. After all, that's Artemis's _specialty_, who would expect it to fail him now?


	14. YOUR LAPTOP!

~About an hour Later~

"Well what do you know, little Arty's awake!" exclaimed Present Opal. Artemis Jr was seated in the shuttles main cabin bound to a chair. He had just awakened and was staring blearily at both Kobois. He didn't reply. He felt sick. Hot, shivery and unable to move. Artemis Sr on the other hand, who in a similarly bound chair was not so mute.

"Who are you and what do you want?" both Kobois laughed in reply.

"Oh rich! Why don't you ask your son!" Present Opal pointed menacingly at Artemis Jr.

Artemis had his eyes shut. His skin had a sickly pallor to it. He made an attempt to answer his father, leaning forward slightly in his bonds and griping the side of the chair till his knuckles were white in an effort to stop himself throwing up. "Jealousy I suppose." His voice cracked.

"Why you little brat!" Past Opal screamed, jumping up to slap Artemis Jr across the face, her nails leaving thin red lines down his cheeks. Artemis Jr tightened his grip on the chair and brought his knees together.

"Stop!" Artemis Sr. could not watch this happen to his son. Past Opal reeled around to face him.

"What did you just say? I'll do to the little Mud Boy whatever I please. He is going to die and I am going to enjoy it." hissed Past Opal. With that she stomped over to the cockpit and went through the barrier slamming the door. Moments later she reappeared holding a laptop. "Fowl, open your eyes." He obeyed. "Do you know what this is?"

Artemis Jr's eyes drooped slightly before he mustered the energy to answer. "_A_ laptop."

Past Opal frowned, "_Your_ laptop Fowl. _YOUR_ LAPTOP! AND I'V _HACKED_ IT!" She roared.

"Bravo." Artemis Jr. whispered, his head drooped and his breathing slowed. He had passed out.

Artemis Sr was stunned, what was wrong with his son? "What's so important about my son's laptop?" He asked.

Present Opal grinned. "Oh just that he's hacked through just about all the LEP's security encryptions. I could have done it myself of coarse, but this saves me the trouble. Immediate action if you know what I mean." She took the computer from Past Opal as she said this and sat down. She opened it and began typing. "Best case scenario the counsel thinks Fowl's doing this, _click click click,_worst case scenario, they know it's me and can't do a thing about it! HA!" She snapped the lid shut and tossed the machine into the seat next to her.

"The LEP?" asked Fowl Sr.

"Yeeees. The L-E-P!" Present Opal giggled.

Neither Opal would speak to Mr. Fowl after that, they just ignored his protests as they dragged an unconscious and shivering Artemis Jr back to the prisoner's cell.

"He needs a doctor!" Artemis Sr demanded.

"Oh he has one." Waved Past Opal grinning widely.


	15. Not anymore Centaur

~Back in Haven~

Chaos had ensued. Lights were flashing and Foaly's Ops booth was going haywire. Holly rushed in.

"What in Fronds name is going on here Centaur!" Holly exclaimed.

"It's ARTEMIS! He must have gone mad!" Folly stammered.

"We knew that," said Holly rubbing her temple "but how could he cause all this damage?"

Folly began fingering his collar again, "Well he has access to a lot of… stuff."

"What stuff Foaly?" Holly glared at him.

"Well you know…" He waved his hand vaguely, "My, um, stuff."

"You control just about everything techy don't you." She sighed.

"Well uh, yes I do as a matter a fact." Foaly confirmed.

Holly began walking towards the exit, "Not anymore Centaur." With that she was gone. The look on Foaly's face was priceless.

~10 minutes later~

"Butler! Butler!" yelled an exasperated Foaly into the microphone. Foaly had decided that if he couldn't stop Artemis electronically he would have Butler stop him physically. Holly was already on her way back to the surface.

"What is it, Foaly? Do you have any news?" Butler was cut off,

"Stop him! Butler! Get Artemis and make sure he isn't touching any computers or phones or Frond knows what else! Hurry!" Foaly sounded frantic.

"Foaly, Artemis and his father are gone." Foaly still gibbering on stopped mid rant.

"Gone!" said Foaly, "GONE WHERE?"

"Gone missing Foaly." replied Butler. There was a pause.

"Missing," Foaly said slowly "I see."

"They were kidnapped Foaly." Butler explained. There was another pause.

"His laptop, Butler, is it there?" Foaly's voice was urgent

"You care more about…!"

"Look this is important!" Foaly was taking charge.

~Five minutes later after frantic searching on Butlers behalf~

"I can't find it." Panted Butler.

"Ahhh! I can't even trace its location to find Artemis!"


	16. Unfounded

Ok, hello everyone! I am going to try out an OC – I know a lot of people don't like them but don't worry it's not going to be a teenage girl who falls in love with him or another cruel genius who is more he than him. So, please comment and tell me what you think.

Also another note Artemis went missing for three years and is 15 now so to avoid complications of him returning to school the few teachers and students remaining at Saint Bartleby's that knew him were mind wiped.

–Cat

Mathew Luck was laying on his bed in the dorm room he and Artemis Fowl the Second shared at Saint Bartleby's School for Young Gentlemen. Artemis Fowl was new to Saint Bartleby's, Mathew was finishing his second year. They were in the same grade. Artemis Fowl had arrived the day before spring break, got settled in his room, attended classes and then left. School had been in session for an entire business week after the fortnight holiday and Fowl had not yet arrived. Mathew thought this was odd but wasn't overly interested. It was nice having the room to himself. He had only seen Fowl briefly and had not spoken to him. He had heard the horror stories about the young prodigy but had yet to form an opinion on him personally. Not that he hadn't been affected by these rumors, Mathew suspected that he would not like Artemis but what of it. It wasn't as if he was there to bother him anyway.

Mathew rolled over to stare at the off white ceiling, then turned to look over at the empty bed across from him. Mathew came from a wealthy family, not compared to the Fowls by any means but the Saint Bartleby's $10,000 tuition wasn't a stretch. He was also something of a playboy witch made it odd that he was spending his Friday evening in his room. The truth was that he was failing several subjects and was not allowed to leave campus. It wasn't that he wasn't capable of getting the work done – far from it – it was just that he didn't care.

Boredom didn't suit Mat. He decided to turn on the television. Flicking through a few channels he stopped on a news broadcast.

_The Fowl family has held somewhat of an empire over Irish and European business for decades, fluctuating with its own economy…_

"Ha!" snorted Mathew, everyone knew they were crooks.

_Some of you may have heard of Artemis Fowl the Second who has the highest tested IQ in Eurasia, only being surpassed by a former Chinese national who died 12 years ago at age 109. Artemis Fowl and his father have gone missing. Irish officials are working with the Fowl family on the case. It has long been rumored that some of the Fowl family's business practices were less than lawful, especially after Artemis the First's first disappearance several years ago, but Angeline Fowl assures us that under her husband's eye the Fowl family has been entirely legitimate and that rumors of underworld enemies being involved in the disappearance are unfounded._

Mathew held his mouth open. So that's what happened to the Fowl kid, no wonder. Underworld enemies being involved in the disappearance,_ unfounded? _What was this woman playing at? He shut off the television not wanting to hear more. His roommate had disappeared, why? He got up and began pacing the room, the news had sparked his interest, he wanted to know more.


	17. Hall Way

Only Present Opal returned to the main cabin where Artemis Senior still waited.

"What's happening to my son?" Hate was written in every facet of the Irish father's face.

Present Opal examined him seriously.

"Fowl is never going to interfere with any of my plans again. You _Sir_ do not know your own son." There was a brief pause as Opal snickered, "Don't worry my father didn't know me very well either, his mistake, he didn't let me take over the family business so I started my own and bought him out eventually." She looked up dreamily "I didn't have any problems after that… That is, until, HE came along." She pointed in the direction Past Opal had exited with Artemis the Second. Artemis Senior's eyes narrowed. "I do hope however that Ms. Short manages to arrive somehow. I've scrambled all the technology underground but her resourcefulness may work in favor of my entertainment this time around."

Artemis Senior gritted his teeth as Opal walked back to the cockpit and shut the door behind her. _Ms. Short? Oh gods is that one of the, the _fairies_ they mentioned earlier?_

~In The Back~

Artemis's vision blurred as he came back to consciousness, he had only been out for a few minutes. He was back in the holding cell. At that point sitting up wasn't an option for him.

_What, s-should I do now? _The thought was an unpleasant realization. _I don't even have the mental capacity to… to… _think._ I need help… I need… need… Holly. _This was his last coherent thought before blackness enveloped him.

~Several Minutes Later~

Artemis Senior was soon rejoined with his son, courtesy of Past Opal. He sat there, grimly, next to his son for several hours.

~Several Hours Later Somewhere Underground~

"We've arrived!" Shouted Past Opal as she opened the door to the holding cell. Artemis Senior looked grimly up at her without speaking. She smiled in return. "Get up Mud Man." Artemis Senior complied with the order as Past Opal had a neutrino blaster aimed at his chest. His hands were bound tightly behind his back with modified LEP regulation cuffs. These cuffs had had their unlock code changed as well as an extra locking plate over the input panel. There wasn't going to be anyone getting out of these. "March!" Opal ignored the scathing look she got from Artemis senior as he was frog marched out the holding door and then out of the shuttle, Present Opal arriving behind them moments later dragging young Artemis with her.

They appeared to be in a dark hallway with walls, floor, and ceiling made of a dull charcoal metal.

"You're going to enjoy yourselves here." Present Opal Smiled as she returned to the shuttle, Past Opal following her.

"Where are we?!" Artemis Senior demanded, growling in frustration and anger.

"Oh you'll find out," Past Opal chimed, disappearing around the shuttle door.

"Soon enough…" finished Present Opal as the shuttle door rose shut in front of her and a new wall began sliding past, hiding the shuttle from view and trapping the father and son in a dark hallway. As the door came within inches of completely closing the space off there was a loud clang and the cuffs binding Artemis Seniors hands behind his back snapped open and hit the floor. When the grinding stopped there was dead silence.

"Dear God." whispered Artemis Senior in awe and frustration as he rubbed his newly released wrists. Looking around, he nothing but the blank walls of a long hallway. He stooped down to take inventory of his son's health.

Artemis Senior was not a doctor but he could tell that young Artemis was in desperate need of one. He leaned against the wall next to his son and shut his eyes thinking.

_This is really a mess, one by the sound of it Artemis could probably get us out of if he weren't unconscious. What are we – am I, going to do? _He let out a sigh._ What will Angeline think? She must be worried sick, the authorities must have been notified by now, correct? Perhaps the… the… LAP, no the L-E-P, maybe they will help? They sound as if they are the ones who deal with this sort of thing, or at least they hire my son too... And then there is this woman – er, fairie by the name of Short. What an ironic name. _Mr. Fowl put a hand to his temple and looked down at his unconscious son. His son was the only one who had gotten out, who could get anyone out of, this situation. _I'm not an immeasurable genius like my son but I am not an unintelligent man. I have been kidnaped before, even spent the night in an enemy's trunk once when I was younger and more naive, I _can_ get us out of this. _There was a moment's pause._ The last time I was kidnaped, my 12 year old son was the one who… _He lent his head back against the wall and…

There was a vibration, a tremor that traveled down the wall and into the floor and Artemis senior felt it! The wall was moving! Not sliding sideways but scraping forward making the hall way shorter. The movement was slow but Artemis senior rushed to grab his son and ran down the hall. After a few minutes running he came to the end of the hallway and looked back. It was too dark to see where he had come from but he could feel the other wall coming toward them. Young Artemis was slung over his father's shoulder. They didn't have much time.


	18. Most Beautiful

The wall was slowly coming toward them, but they still had time.

"Artemis!" Shouted the boy's father shaking him. "Artemis, wake up-" His son's eye's fluttered.

"Hummmm-?" He mumbled.

"On the wall behind us can you read this?" Artemis Senior aimed his son so he could see the gnomish writing on a screen embedded in the stationary wall. In English it read:

"e^πi + 1 ="

Artemis II squinted at the gnomish numerals in a daze. They seemed to spin. He focused harder, and didn't notice his father nervously looking back.

"I can't..." He began.

"It's a puzzle, Artemis." Said his father. We are in a Labyrinth. If the puzzle doesn't get solved, we die." Young Artemis slumped a bit as a wave of nausea washed over him. Black dots appeared over his vision.

"I can't see it, I-" He gasped, as he felt a sharp glance to the back of his head that set his vision into focus for a moment. "N-Nothing."

"Noth-!" His father began.

"Z-Zero, the answer is zero." The black dots were beginning to blur his vision again but nothing else happened. There was a pause and all he could hear was the grinding of the wall behind him and his father breathing then, he repeated the figure in gnomish. No sooner had he done so than the grinding stopped. He had done it; he had solved the first puzzle.

Artemis Senior had expected a door to open ahead or to the side of them to continue into his predicted Labyrinth but no such portal appeared. Young Artemis's head lulled back, his eyes were shut but his lips were moving.

"Most beautiful, just like her, she so arrogant. Predictable. Next will be difficult more." Artemis Senior set his son down and shook his head. Nonsense, but his son's answer had been right. He felt guilty about hitting Artemis in the head but it was the only thing he could do and, admittedly, it had worked.


	19. and so he did

Artemis was having similar thoughts to his father's, albeit much more slowly. He had solved the first puzzle, so why was there not door or pathway to the next one? It had been at least a quarter of an hour.

Suddenly a voice was projected into the hallway "Ready MudBoy?" I spoke in gnomish. Artemis didn't get the chance to comprehend Opals question instead the floor beneath him slid away and he felt himself falling. The door slipped shut above him just as quickly. Artemis Senior had had no time to grab his son or to follow him. He stared at the floor in shock for a moment, and then he slammed his fist into it.

"I hope you die! Damned Pixie!"

Present Opal giggled at her monitor. It was good to be on top. She turned and nodded at her doppelgänger, and watched as she left the room. She wished she could help with this bit, but as she had given up her magic she wouldn't be of much use.

Oh well, she thought at least I'm the one who designed and built the equipment. She smiled brightly and watched Fowl Senior on the monitor. He was sitting down with his face resting in the palms of his hands.

Artemis moaned as pain erupted in his back. He had fallen four feet and was now laying in pitch blackness. He did not know the dimensions of the room he was in because he could not see and he did not get up to feel his way around. Although his back hurt he realized that he was beginning to be able to think more clearly. He lay there for a few minutes wondering.

_My thought process is still, delayed._ He thought. _I wonder what will happen next; I haven't the faintest idea what Opal is doing or how it pertains to world domination._ He let his mind wander a bit, the momentary clarity slipping away, when suddenly an image popped up in his head. _Laptop. MY LAPTOP! Oh I understand now..._ Artemis rolled to his side, lifting his torso up with his hand. _I'm sorry Foaly._

A door that had apparently been in front of him slid open and Artemis gasped as the light it let in blinded him momentarily until his pupils had time to contract. It was enough to send his head spinning.

"Ah! You're looking helpless!" Exclaimed Past Opal happily. She reached down and pulled Artemis up by his collar wrenching part of his shirt out of his belt. He stood next to her hunched over awkwardly, acutely aware of the human pistol aimed at his head. A light switched on illuminating the whole room and the door Opal had come through shut.

"So, we meet again." Artemis's voice cracked halfway through this statement making him sound more terrified than he actually was. Opal just giggled.

"Sit down Fowl." She pointed towards a seat that fitted into a large machine. Artemis knew he had seen a similar set up once before but couldn't immediately pinpoint the memory.

"No, you think that just because you managed to drug me I would become that stupid?" Artemis asked.

"Mmmmm, no, not exactly but I did expect you to recognize a gun pointed at your head when you saw one." Opal rolled her wrist adjusting the pistol's aim.

"If you wanted me dead that quickly you would have done it by now and there would be no use for," His eyes flickered towards the machine. "that."

"Oh, nothing escapes you Fowl! That is really too bad." Opal fired the pistol.

Artemis Senior heard the gun shot and his son's shout below him.

Opal watched as Artemis Fowl the First hit the floor clutching at his left leg in pain. He glared at her from the floor.

"Now will you get in the seat?" She asked pleasantly. Artemis bowed his head, his hair hiding his face. He didn't reply.

Opal again grabbed his collar and dragged him to the seat. At this point Artemis was aware of the toll the drugs Opal had him on were still taking. Although he had regained conciseness and the ability to think clearly, mostly, he was still extremely physically weak and was easily overpowered by the small pixie. He didn't struggle despite the pain it caused him to be thrown in the seat and strapped in. His mind went blank again as red streaks flew across his vision.

"Good bye Artemis Fowl." Opal chimed before hitting a button on the control panel. It was at about this moment that Artemis suddenly remembered where he had seen similar equipment. It was when Foaly had mind wiped him!

_NO! She can't!_ was his last thought before he was staring into two huge chocolate brown eyes.

"Go to sleep Fowl." They said, and so he did.


	20. Stepladders

Holly had made it to Tara.

"Any leads Centaur?" She muttered into her helmet mike.

Holly had only managed to get to the surface with difficulty. Most of Haven was either malfunctioning or turned off, only the pieces of LEP equipment that weren't connected to the main frame or were connected to the portion of Foaly's servers that hadn't been hacked yet were usable. Luckily for Holly Foaly had managed to manually sever the connection between the Helmet communication system and his main server. Although, the communication system used LEP satellites to transfer information it was still susceptible to the unknown attacker, albeit not directly.

"Well, the Hacker is fluent in Gnomish and at this point we are assuming it's not Artemis, agreed?"

"No D'Arveting shit."

"Ok I've managed to triangulate a ruff location by analyzing which satellites were used to hack my system. Only the ones orbiting over the side of the world the perpetrator is inhabiting could have been used so..."

"Spare me the technical details Foaly my friend is missing."

"Well Artemis's Laptop, and presumably Artemis is in Northern Europe." said Foaly. Holly's face turned an admirable shade of red.

"Above or below ground?" She replied, her voice calm despite her physical appearance.

"Well I haven't got enough information..."

"Thanks Foaly! Thanks a D'Arveting lot - he is in Europe. Now there's a breakthrough that narrows it down a lot. Northern Europe, WOW." Even Foaly could hear the sarcasm dripping in Holly's words, but he chose to ignore them.

"Just doing my job..."

"Bye Foaly." Holly switched the Centaur's voice off and took off heading towards Fowl Manor. Perhaps Butler had made some headway, or perhaps he hadn't. There was only one way to find out and that was to ask.

~Several Hours later - Fowl Manor~

Holly swooped down towards the Manor and found that the window into the kitchen at the side of the house had been left open.

"Butler!" She yelled, landing on the floor with a thump.

Butler who had been waiting for the Elf to arrive came into the room though the open doorway at the opposite end of the room.

"Holly! Do you have news?" Asked the Man Servant."

"They're in Northern Europe last I heard." She said coldly.

"Did Foaly check the communicator you gave Artemis?"

"It's dead, must have been disabled..." Holly looked down apologetically, then she jumped suddenly.

"Holly!" yelled a voice in her ear.

"What? WHAT!?" exclaimed the Elf putting a hand up to her ear.

"They moved!" said Foaly. It was like Christmas had come early.

"Foaly I don't think that that's a good..."

"No it is, because now I can narrow in on their location!" Holly looked perplexed. You see," began Foaly, "when..."

"So where are they we haven't got at day!" Holly interjected quickly before Foaly could start explaining.

"They are underground below Scotland." noted Foaly.

"Big move, the British Isle." said an exasperated Holly. She rolled her eyes as Butler did an uncharacteristic face palm.

~Again several Hours later~

Butler pulled up outside an old and rather large looking warehouse and he and Holly both exited the car.

"I think warehouses should be outlawed." said Holly, "Shit always goes down in warehouses." she spat.

"I think," contemplated Butler, "That that would only exacerbate the problem." Holly sighed.

"Maybe, let's just check this out, okay?"

They walked up the door. The building was old and the door and windows were boarded up. The siding and roof were mostly aluminum, although the door itself was steel.

"It would be easier..." Began Butler eyeing the door.

Holly blasted the steel lock with her neutrino, slicing it open. It took a few moments for the lock to come apart but the wooden boards cut like butter under her beam.

"Or not." He finished when Holly was done. She smiled.

"I always do things the hard way."

"I can see that." Butler would have chucked if it had been a different day.

The door still required some force to open but Butler was more than capable of providing it. Holly gasped upon entering the space.

"This is an old - AN OLD - LEP terminal. This port hasn't been used in years!"

"Wait, aren't old LEP terminals dismantled (?) or at least hidden or secured more effectively than" He waved his hand, "this?"

"Usually." said Holly. Butler sighed.

"Opal is as resourceful as she is cliché."

"Opal?"

"Come on Holly." Butler tilted his head, "You don't have to be a genius, which," He tapped her helmet, "I thought we had access to."

"I don't like jumping to conclusions." Foaly broadcasted through Holly's helmet.

"Foaly, there are two of them, you don't have to jump, there's a stepladder." said Butler.

"I don't do stepladders either!" huffed Foaly in response.

"Foaly...!" growled Butler. The unseen Foaly rolled his eyes.

"Is there a shuttle there?"

"Nope," answered Holly, "but there is a port for one and I think it's functional."

"Isn't that too good to be true." said Butler in response.

"Oh yea. Yeeeeeaha, it is." said Foaly slapping his control panel. "But isn't everything?"

There was a moment of pause before Holly interjected.

"So off we descend."


	21. Plans

"How will we do that Holly?" asked the bodyguard. Holly walked over to the shuttle port.

"Butler, I don't think this is the only way down." Holly quickly took a survey of their surroundings. There was a work station next to the port and peeking over the service desk Holly could see a door way with what would have been a red light over the top if it had been on.

"What did you find" inquired Butler, leaning down to see what Holly was looking at.

"That," pointed Holly "is a doorway down to the lower level. In the grander days of the LEP, terminals were larger, much larger."

"I'm not complaining." commented Butler as he straitened up to his full hight. Holly smiled.

"Well I'm afraid that not the whole thing will have such grand ceilings." Holly was purely referring to their hight as there was nothing grand about the industrial warehouse other than it's dimensions and even that would have been a difficult conclusion to come to if you weren't a fairy.

Holly jumped over the service desk and found to her lack of surprise that the door she had shown Butler was unlocked and opened easily. She turned around to find Butler trying to squeeze himself over the service desk and into the small box that contained its none existent workers. She backed up through the door and down a few steps to avoid being knocked down by the human.

After Butler worked himself through the door and sat on the top of the steps Holly thought it was safe to start walking down. The stairwell was dark and cold and she could hear Butler behind her, half walking half sliding down the too small space. Holly had turned her helmet lamp on and could see that the stairs lead down deeper into the Earth than she would have expected.

"Are you sure the LEP didn't build grand ceilings below too?" asked Butler.

"Yes," Holly began "I am sure." They descended awhile before Holly said, "We should have made it to the lower offices by now, actually we should have walked passed three levels of lower offices by now. Something about this isn't right."

"You know more about it than I do," conceded Butler, "but what would Opal do with a space this large? Surely she's fingered out that the dramatic schemes she orchestrates do not work."

"Once a thespian always a thespian." replied Holly in a sing song voice.

"Funny." Remarked Butler grimly.

The rest of the stairs were descended by the pair in silence. Neither of them were looking forward to what they would fined at the end.

"All right, Butler, we must be getting close so here's the plan…" started Holly.

"You're coming up with plans now!" came a voice from down the hall. Holly knew that voice.

"What have you done with my friend!?" screamed Holly. She began running down the hallway, anything to get the neck that made that voice and wrap her hands around it.

"Holly wait-" Butler warned. Butler had no way of descending at Holly's speed and was quickly left behind. His suspicion that this was a set up was confirmed when he heard the the slam of a metal door.

Butler thought he could make out muffled yelling from down the hallway, but he wasn't sure. He sighed. This was bad but it was his job to stay calm and take the best course of action at a time like this. He paused a moment, thinking. This was a trap. He could go back but it would take awhile and the door was probably locked leaving him trapped. The only real option was to descend into this mess and -dare he think it- hope for the best.

~Several Minuets Later~

Butler had finally reached the point of no return. There was a door in front of him and it wasn't locked. He opened it.

Butler's eyes had adjusted to the darkness left by the absence of Holly's helmet but he still struggled to make out the room he entered. He stood there for a moment squinting. There was a whoosh behind him as the previous door closed behind him. He didn't move. The situation was evident. There were two more doors leading out of the small room, one to his right and one two his left. After twisting the handle on the right one Butler swung round and threw open the door to his left ready for what ever was waiting for him on the other side.

Or so he thought.


	22. This is the Symbol

"Artemis!" Butler exclaimed!

Butlers employer jumped up from his sitting position.

"Butler!" He exclaimed, his hand hovering over his chest.

"Sir? I thought you were young Artemis for a moment." said Butler dropping his hands.

"You haven't seen him?" exhaled Artemis Sr.

"No Sir. I thought you would be with him." There was a moment of silence as Artemis Sr. Put a hand to his brow and pointed to the floor with the other. He worked his jaw for a moment trying to speak.

"He, the floor, he just, fell." He breathed.

"Fell where?" asked Butler slowly. Mr. Fowl waved his hands in response.

"Down, but that's not what, you see… I heard, I heard…" He tried.

"What _did_ you hear sir?" Butler was nervous.

"A shot." Mr. Fowl's head bent forward and his hands went to his head. "She shot him."

Butler's blood ran cold. _She shot him?_

"Opal is bent on revenge, she wouldn't just…" Butler tried to explain.

"I don't know who these women, this woman, are, is, or what they, it wants but… I know, I know what I heard." Whispered Artemis Sr. Butler breathed slowly and stepped into the room towards his employer. Almost as soon as Butler's momentum came to a stop the whoosh indicating the door behind him was no longer an exit could be felt.

"All right, but we still have to find him and we still have to get out of here. You probably know more about this place than I do. What is this?" Butler waved his hand down the hallway.

"It's a Labyrinth." Said Artemis Sr.

"A Labyrinth?"

"Yes it's a long puzzle. Artemis solved the first one, I think it was a math problem but I couldn't read the runes so I'm not sure." he explained.

"I can read those runes to a certain degree, not as well as Artemis." offered Butler.

"Good because the next one is behind you." Artemis Sr. pointing to the handleless door Butler had come through. Butler turned around.

Butler concentrated on the gnomish text for a moment. Trying to figure out its meaning and translate it correctly into English.

"This is the symbol for God or divinity, and this," Butler paused for a moment trying to connect the next symbol logically to the last, "means Maths or numbers and it's followed by a symbol that turns the phrase into a question.

"I see, that's simple." Mr. Fowl replied.

"Simple? It doesn't make any-" Butler was cut off by Artemis Sr's clear articulation.

"One, point, six, one, eight." They both paused after this and waited. Nothing happened. "Butler, can you say that in that," He pointed to the gnomish symbols, "language."

"Yes. I think so." Butler took a breath and repeated the number in gnomish.

After a few moments more text appeared on the screen displaying the question. Butler again read it to Artemis Sr.

"Close, to give or offer, pity, you. That would translate as; Close so I'll offer you pity." Butler closed his eyes. "Opal doesn't have the capacity to _feel_ pity." Artemis Sr. just nodded.

Suddenly a high pitched whistling began to emanate from all directions. Artemis Sr's hands shot to his ears. Butler was wearing semi porous ear plugs as he always did before entering a dangerous situation so the noise did not effect him in the same way, he could still hear it though.

The wall that had the puzzle Artemis originally solved started to rise and after a moment Mr. Fowl and Butler both began to notice that their feet were beginning to get wet. They didn't wait long enough for the wall to raise itself high enough to walk under, they ducked under as soon as the space permitted and began to run farther down the corridor.


	23. You Carry Them For Me

"What have you done with Artemis!" Holly shouted. She had ran after Opal's voice through a small room and an open door to her right. Now she was now face to face with Past Opal. She had not realized that the door behind her had swung shut.

"Artemis Fowl is dead." Opal and Holly were at a stand still, each aiming a gun strait at the other. Holly's gun shook slightly in her grip, the finger that rested on its trigger had a noticeable scar around the base, it tingled. "For all intensive purposes, at least." Opal smiled.

"For all intensive purposes?" Holly raised an eyebrow, "Who's _purposes_ are we talking about?" Opal snickered,

"Why your's Capitan Short." She laughed again, "Bonded by trauma remember? But that's only a memory dear and memories don't always… _last_." Her smile disappeared for a moment. "They do however, define us." A door opened behind Opal and she began to back away through it.

"They don't define you! You don't have memories of me or Artemis but you still hate us and what revenge." Holly snarled.

"I _do_ have memories of Fowl. As for you Short, I don't _need_ memories of you." explained Past Opal. "You carry them for me." Her smile returned. It seemed so familiar to Holly and then she realized, Opal had his smile. Opal had Artemis's vampire smile. Without even thinking Holly's finger reflexively pulled the trigger on her neutrino. It was too late. The door had closed in front of Opal and the shot just left a scorch mark in the metal. Holly could have screamed.

A moment went by with Holly just standing there but then another door opened. This one was in the floor. Holly walked over to it and peeked down. It was a dark set of stairs.

Marvelous, though Holly. _Just D'Arveting MARVELOUS. What the hell was Opal on about about memories!? She's always been off her rocker… I really shouldn't go along with this but I need to find Artemis._

Holly mentally kicked herself as she began to descend the stairs.

~A Few Minutes Later~

Artemis opened his eyes, and then immediately shut them. What he had seen confused him.

_Where am I? _He thought. _What am I doing here? Who am I?_

These mental questions were more interrogative impressions than coherently formulated articulations. It was all very confusing, not to mention that Artemis was in a great deal of pain.

He heard a gasp and opened his eyes. He was looking at a girl.

"Artemis!" Holly Short dropped to her knees and put her hand on Artemis's forehead. His eyes widened and he tried to get up. As soon as this happened a shooting pain shot through his leg and down his back. He let in a sharp intake of breath, then closed his eyes. "Stop! Your leg!" Holly went pail as she surveyed the damage. "Heal." She whispered.

Nothing happened.

"Who… where?" Artemis was breathing heavily. He tried again, "I don't under…stand."

Holly came to the conclusion that Foaly's medication had finally worn off and that Artemis was, again, in the depths of his Atlantis Complex.

"Artemis, your sick remember? It's Holly, your friend. Opal brought you and your father here. I'm going to get us out." She paused and briefly looked at the room not really seeing anything. "Don't try to move, your hurt too."

"Who is Opal?" Asked Artemis softly. Holly did a double take.

"Uhh, O-Opal is a bad person." She replied, failing to come up with a better answer.

"What makes someone _bad_?" another question.

"What makes…?" Holly started, "She _hurts people_, Artemis." Holly said a bit testily.

"What's Artemis?" Artemis coughed before continuing, "You keep saying that." His voice was hoarse. Holly let out an odd noise before answering,

"You're Artemis." Holly's eyes began to water.

"What makes me Artemis?"

"You're a _good_ person." Holly whispered.

"Oh." There was a pause, "So, dose that mean I don't hurt people?"

"It means you _help_ people."

"Who are you, H-H-" Artemis's eyes were still shut, his voice was getting weaker.

"Holly. I'm Holly Short. Captain Holly Short of the L-E-P recon. I'm also your friend." A tear slid down Holly's face and she looked up away from Artemis. That's when she saw it, the mind wipe equipment. Not that she needed proof, Holly had understood what had happened by now. "Artemis?" asked Holly. There was a long pause and Holly held her breath.

Artemis opened his eyes and looked at her. "Oh, thats me, isn't it?" Holly just nodded. Artemis put on a puzzled look. "Your face is wet, Holly." The name felt strange on his tongue like a word he'd never used before.

"Yes." Holly wiped her eyes and smiled at Artemis to hide her anger and disappointment.

_Was Opal right? Is it our memories that make us who we are? Is Artemis technically dead?_

"Why?" He asked.

"It's not important." Holly stood up as she said this, and began walking toward a white spot on the wall. The room was dark but for this screen embedded in what Holly suspected to be a door.

"Where are you going?!" Squeaked Artemis as soon as he realized Holly was not in his line of sight. Holly jumped in fright.

"Nowhere! I'm right here. I'm not going to go anywhere without you." Holly had been startled into giving babbled reassurance. She had never heard fear like that in anyone's voice before. It was as if she had taken away everything he had ever known.

_Everything he had ever know… Oh!_

"Artemis?" Holly said softly and she hoped sweetly, "What's the last thing you remember?"

"You." Said the bod shakily, Holly was still out of his sight-line.

"What about me?" prodded Holly.

"I-I, umm, I" Artemis seemed to be thinking out loud. "Arrived."

"Arrived where?"

"Here. I was here but before I wasn't."

_Uh oh._

"Where were you Artemis? Before you were here?" asked Holly a little more urgently.

"I wasn't. I-I just wasn't!" Artemis must have picked up the urgency in Holly's voice, he sounded nervous. "Is that bad! Dose that make me a bad person." Holly was aghast.

"Shhh! No no! It's okay, everything is okay." Holly put her hand on Artemis's face and felt that is was wet. She looked closer at him. There was blood on his face from cuts on his cheek, but he also had tears coming from his eyes.

Artemis was like a child laying there.

_Of course he's like a child he doesn't know anything. He has no experiences at all! Except, Holly looked at Artemis's leg, pain._

What little light came from the screen behind them flashed causing Holly to get up again and examine it. It read:

_Have you figured it out?_

"Yes. You erased his memories." Holly spat. "I will make sure you pay for this Opal."

All Holly could hear as the door slid open was a maniacal cackle.


	24. Can't Even Google the Information

The light from his laptop's screen was giving Mathew Luck a headache. It was two o'clock on Sunday morning. Mathew had spent the previous day and a half researching everything he could about the infamous Artemis Fowl and had come across several interesting things. This in and of itself surprised him. Everyone knew about the Fowls and everyone knew about the family's youngest member. Being a prodigy tends to give a person notoriety. Despite all this there was almost know information Mathew's roommate on the Internet. Artemis Fowl didn't have an online presence. It wasn't that Mathew thought he would be able to friend the young heir on facebook or follow him on twitter, but he had expected to find news articles, TV snippets, conspiracy theories, anything of the sort, mentioning him.

How could everyone know who he is and what he's done if you can't even Google the information?

This was a rather trite thought coming from Mathew, because he had dig much further into the Internet than just the world wide web. It was during this deeper search that Mathew had found the interesting bits. For instance, Mathew had come across and torrented a copy of an underground electronic news zine. It was all basic text. The issue however happened to be 15 years old and it mentioned a 3 year old Artemis Fowl the Second. The article was commenting on the prodigy's resent IQ test results and outlining a modern human hybrid conspiracy. The conspiracy was rubbish; however, it was the date that was interesting. If Artemis Fowl had really been three, 15 years ago, that meant that he should currently be 18. After coming across the old zine Mathew decided to go through old news archives instead of relying on provided search tools. He found old news snippets mentioning the Fowls. They were shadows though. The links were broken, the text, was missing, the files were corrupted, but most of all, the dates were wrong. The dates were missing, the dates didn't match up with surrounding information, or the dates didn't correspond with the additional events mentioned in the headline. He couldn't actually read any of the articles, he could only puzzle out the headlines through there url's and file names.

Now here he was at two o'clock in the morning, not doing his school work but preforming an in depth investigation on his room mate. How quaint…

~Opal's Labyrinth~

Holly stared at the opening in front of her. She looked back at Artemis, who was hurt.

Should I move him? she wondered. CAN I move him? He's so much bigger than me…. I'm going to have to try, I can't leave him here.

Holly walked over to Artemis. She looked down at him; he wasn't conscious anymore.

I need to stop his leg bleeding. she thought.

Holy paused a moment before her eyes stopped on a tear in the seam of Artemis's shirt sleeve.

Oh, obvious.

She ripped the shirt sleeve off and used it to wrap up the wound in Artemis's leg.

~Somewhere else in Opal's Labyrinth~

Artemis Senior and Domovoi Butler were still running in what felt like spirals. The walls of the labyrinth curved around in a seemingly endless pattern. They stopped when the water reached their knees. Both of the men were panting, Butler a little less so than Artemis Senior.

"So, is this also supposed to be a puzzle?" asked Butler. There was a moment of fast paced breathing before a reply came,

"I'm not a physiologist, Butler. This woman is insane." Butler nodded. The water seemed to start rising faster as soon as the insult left his mouth. "Ah! The damned she-devil!" cursed Mr. Fowl. Butler grabbed his employer's arm and started wading through the water faster than before, he had heard something.

~Down aways~

Holly was having enormous difficulty in dragging Fowl through the hall down the spiral and keeping his head above water. The fluid had finally reached her chest and she was having difficulty keeping her breath. When she had originally dragged Artemis away from the room in which he had been shot the door had closed behind her and water had started collecting at her feet. Holly wrenched herself and Artemis forward another step and found herself floundering.

"HELP!" she shouted up the hallway, knowing it would be no use.

"Holly?!" came a shouted reply.

"Yes! Butler is that you? THANK FROND! Get over here now I can't hold Artemis up much longer I'm not TALL ENOUGH!"

Butler, despite the hurry took the time to stare at his employer's face for a moment. He had never seen an expression quite like that on anyone's face before.

"He's alive?" spluttered Artemis Senior. "Arty's Alive!" he shouted moving quicker.

"Damn strait, and if *gasp* one of you doesn't *gasp* get the hell over here…" Butler rounded a corner to find Holly's head under water, her arms trying to lift up the unconscious Artemis Junior. Butler threw Artemis over his broad shoulder before lifting Holly unceremoniously out of the water.

"Please tell me you have a plan, Holly." Butler pleaded.

"You've got to be kidding me Mudman." She spluttered.

"Where did you come from?" asked Mr. Fowl, pointing a shaking finger down the hallway.

"A dead end." shot back Holly.

~OPPS Booth - Haven~

"Well Commander, Sir, you see…" Foaly trailed off at the look on Commander Trouble Kelp's face.

"You mean to tell me my Captain had to go up there because he was sick and now they've been kidnapped!?"

"Yessir."

"Where are they Centaur?" Trouble Kelp's face was beginning to look like a red beet.

"I'm sending the coordinates to you helmet now. The shuttle is already programed." Foaly replied quickly, typing furiously.

"And tell me again why I have a convict and Haven's most powerful Demon Warlock with me?"

"Well, you see, Commander…" Foaly was tugging at his collar again, "Opal is behind the kidnapping." Kelp raised his eyebrows.

"I know how good you are a jumping to conclusions Centaur, how do you know this?" Foaly was still tugging at his collar.

"I heard her before Holly's helmet cut out, trust me it's her. Besides," he continued, "you don't have to jump to conclusions, there's a stepladder."


End file.
